> The counterpoint of course is that he has demonstrated a consistent ability to build and run successful businesses, many of which are extremely high risk

Three sucesses.

Not so successful: Solar City, Neuralink, TBC, X.

(X exists, but before it was valued-and-bought by one of Musk's other companies, it appeared to have lost about half its value).

Richard Branson he aint.

paypal succeeded _despite_ musk and required a boardroom coup to remove him from leadership because he was about to tank the company. if he had is way nobody would remember paypal besides a couple people with merch for a long defunct company.

I'd still restrict this to an ability to pursue ideas that others find too risky with relentless persistence and a laser focus. He is able to get something off the ground and make others believe in it, but not good at actually running a stable business. And that's fine, mind you, I absolutely respect what has built. But the person who is responsible for turning SpaceX from an incredibly risky bet into a profit machine is Gwynne Shotwell, not Elon Musk.

Rivian, Polestar, Slate etc. Would like a word.

Of course it’s still early days for all these companies and they’re not exactly fiscally solid, but if Tesla had not made all those cars, someone else would have.